An Experimental Study of Pancreatic Trauma and Its Relationship to Pancreatic Inflammation

Abstract

Introduction Pancreatitis may follow severe abdominal trauma or a surgical procedure and often represents a catastrophic complication. Massive fluid extravasation and electrolyte depletion result in hypovolemia with progressive shock which may convert a serious condition into a fatal one. While pancreatitis has been reported to follow a variety of operations, upper abdominal surgery, particularly gastric or biliary operations, are the most common antecedent procedures.^4,5 Biliary operations which involve instrumentation of the common duct, dilation of the ampulla, or section of the intrinsic sphincter muscle appear to predispose to this complication. Furthermore, insertion of a long-limbed T tube through the papilla of the bile duct into the duodenum has frequently been implicated in the causation of pancreatitis.⁷ In such instances, pancreatic duct obstruction would seem to play an important role.⁸ Direct trauma to the pancreas, resulting from external blunt or penetrating injuries, may cause obstruction or laceration of